Bibliotheca Sacra 153 (July-September, 1996) 332-43.
Copyright © 1996 by Dallas Theological Seminary. Cited with permission.
DISCIPLESHIP
AND MINOR CHARACTERS
IN MARK'S GOSPEL
Joel F. Williams
How should an interpreter approach the study of dis-
cipleship in the Gospel of Mark?1 For the most part, recent studies
on the topic have focused on Mark's portrayal of the disciples
along with Jesus' teaching to His disciples. In discussing past re-
search on this subject, Malbon states, "Discipleship—that is, fol-
lowing Jesus—has been recognized as a central theme or motif in
the Gospel of Mark. Understandably enough, the portrayal of the
disciples in Mark has often been the focus of scholarly investiga-
tion of the theme of discipleship."2 Malbon points out that past
scholarly investigations are inadequate because "what Mark has
to say about discipleship is understood in reference not only to the
disciples but also to other Markan characters who meet the de-
mands of following Jesus."3 In other words the study of disciple-
ship in Mark's Gospel is broader than a study of the disciples.
In addition to Mark's portrayal of the disciples he included a
number of so-called "minor characters" who followed Jesus and
lived in accord with His teaching. An examination of these mi-
nor characters is important for an understanding of Mark's view
of discipleship, that is, his perspective on what is involved in fol-
Joel F. Williams is Assistant Professor of Bible, Columbia International Univer-
sity, Columbia, South Carolina.
1 This article is a summary of certain theological aspects of the author's disser-
tation, which has been published as Other Followers of Jesus: Minor Characters
as Major Figures in Mark's Gospel, JSNT Supplement Series 102 (Sheffield: JSOT,
1994).
2 Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, "Fallible Followers: Women and Men in the
Gospel of Mark," Semeia 28 (1983): 29.
3 Ibid., 30.
Discipleship and Minor Characters in Mark's Gospel 333
lowing Jesus and living up to His demands and ideals.4
The main character groups in Mark's Gospel are the disci-
ples, the opponents of Jesus, and the crowd.5 In addition to these
groups, a number of individual characters are included in
Mark's narrative. Some of them, such as Andrew or Peter, are
disciples, while others, such as the high priest or Pilate, oppose Je-
sus. Also a number of minor characters function neither as Je-
sus' disciples nor as His opponents. Instead, these individuals
come from the crowd, in the sense that they belong to the general
population, to the group of people outside of Jesus' disciples or op-
ponents. They were not specifically called and commissioned to
be Jesus' disciples, and they did not align themselves with the re-
ligious and political establishments that opposed Jesus and sought
to destroy Him. These minor characters from the crowd appear in
the narrative when they meet with Jesus, and after their en-
counter with Him, they generally disappear from the narrative.
Some, such as the leper, come to Jesus for help, while others, such
as the poor widow, exemplify the teaching of Jesus. Mark's Gospel
includes twenty-two passages that present these minor characters
from the crowd and their response to Jesus. What would Mark's
view of discipleship look like if his presentation of minor charac-
ters were included in a study of this theme?
BASIC ISSUES
Certain principles help guide this study. The first is that
Mark's Gospel is a narrative, that is, a narration of a series of
events. The Gospel of Mark is a historical narrative, but it is a
narrative nonetheless.6 This observation may seem obvious, but
4 For other studies of the minor characters in Mark see Robert C. Tannehill,
"The Gospel of Mark as Narrative Christology," Semeia 16 (1979): 62-68; David
Rhoads and Donald Michie, Mark as Story: An Introduction to the Narrative of a
Gospel (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1982), 129-34; Jack Dean Kingsbury, Conflict in
Mark: Jesus, Authorities, Disciples (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989), 24-27; and Eliz-
abeth Struthers Malbon, "The Major Importance of the Minor Characters in Mark,"
in The New Literary Criticism and the New Testament, ed. Edgar V. McKnight
and Elizabeth Struthers Malbon (Valley Forge, PA: Trinity, 1994), 58-86.
5 On the validity of referring to people in biblical narratives as characters, see
Tremper Longman III, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation, Founda-
tions of Contemporary Interpretation 3 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 88; and R.
Alan Culpepper, Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design, Foun-
dations and Facets: New Testament (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1983), 105-6.
6 For arguments showing that Mark's Gospel presents a coherent narrative, see
Norman R. Petersen, Literary Criticism for New Testament Critics, Guides to Bib-
lical Scholarship (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 49-80; and idem, "`Point of View' in
Mark's Narrative," Semeia 12 (1978): 97-121. Hans W. Frei also argues for the need
to understand the Gospels as realistic narrative (The Eclipse of Biblical Narra-
tive: A Study of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Hermeneutics [New Haven,
CT: YaleUniversity Press, 1974]; The Identity of Jesus Christ: The Hermeneutical
334 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / July–September 1996
it has important implications, especially for Gospel research,
which has often neglected the story elements of the Gospels. In the
past several decades New Testament studies have emphasized the
theological message of the Gospel writers and the significance of
this message for the Gospel writer's community. In such studies
the theological concepts of the Gospel are often extracted from the
text with little concern for how these concepts fit with the narrative
features of the Gospel and the unfolding plot of the story. However,
the Gospels are not theological treatises but narratives, and they
are best understood when they are treated as such.7 This is true
even in an analysis of the theological theme of discipleship, since
Mark uses narrative features such as plot and characterization to display his
perspective on following Jesus. This article examines Mark's portrayal of minor
characters to show how this feature communicates his view of discipleship.
A second principle is that Mark's Gospel as a whole, that is,
every aspect of his text, is important for understanding his view-
points.8 In recent decades critics have treated Mark as a scissors-
and-paste editor, who cut and pieced together traditions to create a
portrait of Jesus. In studying Mark's viewpoints, critics have iso-
lated and set aside the traditional elements in Mark's Gospel and
have concentrated instead on the seams and patches that Mark
contributed to the story. Such an approach, however, often treats
large sections of the Gospel as irrelevant to Mark's message,
even though Mark himself considered these sections important
enough to include them. It is easy to see how an approach that ig-
nores traditional material would diminish the significance of
Bases of Dogmatic Theology [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1975], xiii–xiv; and "The
‘Literal Reading’ of Biblical Narrative in the Christian Tradition: Does It Stretch
or Will It Break?" in The Bible and the Narrative Tradition, ed. Frank McConnell
[New York: OxfordUniversity Press, 1986], 62–63).
7 "Themes and other such literary characteristics rightly belong in the centre of
an interpretation of Mark in a way that ‘theology’ and ‘theological themes’ do not, if
for no other reason than that the form of the Second Gospel is not that of a self-con-
sciously theological treatise. Mark is first of all a narrative and, at least on initial
approach, should be treated as such" (C. Clifton Black, "The Quest of Mark the
Redactor: Why Has It Been Pursued, and What Has It Taught Us?," Journal for the
Study of the New Testament 33 [19881: 32). On this point also see C. Clifton Black,
The Disciples according to Mark: Markan Redaction in Current Debate, JSNT
Supplement Series 27 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1989), 239. For descriptions of how recent
studies examine the narrative features of the Gospels, see Stephen D. Moore,
"Narrative Commentaries on the Bible: Context, Roots, and Prospects," Forum 3
(1987): 29-62; idem, Literary Criticism and the Gospels: The Theoretical Challenge
(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1989), 3-68; Mark Allan Powell, What Is
Narrative Criticism? Guides to Biblical Scholarship (Minneapolis: Fortress,
1990); and Elizabeth Struthers Malbon, "Narrative Criticism: How Does the Story
Mean?" in Mark and Method: New Approaches in Biblical Studies, ed. Janice
Capel Anderson and Stephen D. Moore (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 23–49.
8 Powell, What Is Narrative Criticism? 7, 91–93.
Discipleship and Minor Characters in Mark's Gospel 335
Mark's presentation of minor characters, since most of this ma-
terial would be identified as coming from Mark's sources.
A third principle is that interpreters should give attention to
the sequence of the narrative, to Mark's order of presentation.9 A
narrative is more like a path than a picture. A narrative is not a
spatial object that may be viewed as a whole at any one moment.
Rather a narrative tells a story in sequence, with a beginning,
middle, and end. In a narrative the author takes the reader
through the presentation of a story step by step, and the story may
have twists and turns along the way. Interpreters have sometimes
presented Mark's view of discipleship as a set of abstract con-
cepts. Evidence for these concepts is taken from the Gospel with
little concern for the place of this evidence in the development of
the plot. Such an approach neglects the way in which Mark uses
the twists and turns of the story to affect the way one looks at a
theme such as discipleship. Therefore this article follows Mark's
order of presentation in analyzing the relationship between mi-
nor characters and the theme of discipleship.
A fourth principle is that Mark's Gospel has a rhetorical
function.10 Mark did not write simply to convey historical in-
9 The importance of the sequential flow of the narrative and the temporal nature
of reading is emphasized in the work of some New Testament scholars. See
Richard A. Edwards, Matthew's Story of Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 9;
Robert M. Fowler, Let the Reader Understand: Reader-Response Criticism and
the Gospel of Mark (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 3, 42-46; David B. Howell,
Matthew's Inclusive Story: A Study in the Narrative Rhetoric of the First Gospel,
JSNT Supplement Series 42 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1990), 43–44, 243–45; and Jeffrey L.
Staley, The Print's First Kiss: A Rhetorical Investigation of the Implied Reader in
the Fourth Gospel, SBL Dissertation Series 82 (Atlanta: Scholars, 1988), 8–9, 19–20.
For a similar approach to interpretation within the broader field of literary criti-
cism, see Wolfgang Iser, The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1978), 108–9; idem, The Implied Reader:
Patterns of Communication in Prose Fiction from Bunyan to Beckett (Baltimore:
JohnsHopkinsUniversity Press, 1974), 280; Steven Mailloux, "Learning to Read:
Interpretation and Reader-Response Criticism," Studies in the Literary Imagina-
tion 12 (Spring 1979): 96, 100; Menakhem Perry, "Literary Dynamics: How the Order
of a Text Creates Its Meanings," Poetics Today 1 (Autumn 1979): 35-64, 311-61; Meir
Sternberg, Expositional Modes and Temporal Ordering in Fiction (Baltimore:
Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978), 34, 96–97; and idem, "Time and Reader," in
The Uses of Adversity: Failure and Accommodation in Reader Response, ed. Ellen
Spolsky (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1990), 50–51, 77–78, 85.
10 On the rhetorical function of narratives, see Wayne C. Booth, The Rhetoric of
Fiction, 2d ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1983), 89-116; Meir Sternberg,
The Poetics of Biblical Narrative: Ideological Literature and the Drama of Read-
ing (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1985), 1-2; idem, "Time and Space
in Biblical (Hi)story Telling: The Grand Chronology," in The Bible and the Text:
The Bible and Literary Theory, ed. Regina Schwartz (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), 89,
91; and Susan R. Suleiman, "Introduction: Varieties of Audience-Oriented Criti-
cism," in The Reader in the Text: Essays on Audience and Interpretation, ed. Su-
336 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / July—September 1996
formation, theological ideas, or a well-formed story. Mark also
wrote his Gospel to move his readers to follow Jesus and live up to
Jesus' demands. Mark's Gospel is a call to discipleship. A true
interpretation of Mark must not ignore or obscure its rhetorical
purpose, but instead must convey its message in such a way that
the call to follow Jesus will be heard again.
MINOR CHARACTERS IN MARK
What can be learned about discipleship from Mark's treat-
ment of minor characters? Through these individuals Mark em-
phasizes the importance of faith, the open invitation to follow Je-
sus, and the real possibility of failure in discipleship. Mark de-
velops these minor characters in three stages. First, in the chap-
ters that deal with Jesus' ministry in Galilee and His journey to
Jerusalem (1:1-10:45), Mark presents the minor characters as
suppliants, that is, as those who come to Jesus asking for His help.
In the second stage, minor characters function as exemplars, as
positive examples of what it means to follow Jesus and to accept
His teachings and values. This second stage begins with the por-
trayal of Bartimaeus at the end of chapter 10 and continues
through the death and burial of Jesus (10:46-16:7). In the final
stage, at the very end of the Gospel (16:8), Mark presents minor
characters as negative examples, as examples of failure and dis-
obedience. This final stage is not an extended section, but rather
an unexpected turn of events at the end of the narrative.
STAGE ONE: MINOR CHARACTERS AS SUPPLIANTS
In his prologue (1:1-15), Mark introduces Jesus as the au-
thoritative Messiah and Son of God, who proclaimed the gospel, a
message that demands repentance and faith in light of the near-
ness of the kingdom. Following the prologue Mark narrates the
initial ministry of Jesus in the region of Galilee. The early
chapters of the Gospel introduce different character groups and
show their response to Jesus, so that in a rough pattern of rotation
Jesus interacts with the disciples, the crowd, the demons, and the
religious authorities.11 At times Mark narrates scenes that show
Jesus dealing with more than one character group.12 In the first
three chapters of Mark's Gospel, the minor characters appear in
these mixed episodes, which present more than one character
group. Often the demons, the disciples, or Jesus' opponents play
the more active role in the passage. The minor characters are
san R. Suleiman and Inge Crosman (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980), 9.
11 Tannehill, "The Gospel of Mark as Narrative Christology," 68.
12 Ibid., 69.
Discipleship and Minor Characters in Mark's Gospel 337
suppliants, needy people who come to Him for help, but the needs of
these individuals serve to highlight some other feature of the nar-
rative. The appearance of a possessed man in the synagogue pro-
vides an occasion for Jesus to display His authority over the
demons (1:21–28). The sickness of Simon Peter's mother-in-law
gives the disciples opportunity to express their trust in Jesus
(1:29–31). The healing of the paralytic (2:1–12) and the healing of
the man with the withered hand (3:1–6) highlight the growing
conflict between Jesus and the religious authorities.
In the first three chapters of Mark's Gospel, the minor charac-
ters most fully developed are the leper (1:40–45) and the paralytic
(2:1–12), both people of faith. The leper says to Jesus, "If you are
willing, you are able to cleanse me" (1:40). The paralytic and his
four helpers express their faith by overcoming the obstacle of the
crowd in order to meet with Jesus (2:2–5). In the following narra-
tive, faith continued to be an important feature in Mark's depic-
tion of these characters.
In chapters 4–8, Mark presents minor characters as figures
contrasting to the disciples.13 While the disciples respond to Jesus
with a growing incomprehension and lack of trust, the suppliants
react with faith and insight. Particularly prominent in chapters
4–8 are the three boat scenes in which Jesus travels with His dis-
ciples on the Sea of Galilee.14 In each of these scenes, either Jesus
or the narrator criticizes the disciples for their lack of faith and
understanding (4:40; 6:52; 8:17-18). In the first boat scene (4:35-
41), Jesus stills the storm by rebuking the wind and the waves,
and then He rebukes the disciples for their timidity and lack of
faith. Mark furthers the criticism of the disciples by noting that
they "feared a great fear." This fear was no longer directed at the
fierce storm, but at Jesus, the One who demands the obedience of
the wind and the sea.
The first boat scene is followed by three miracle stories that
present minor characters as people who overcome fear and re-
spond with faith. After calming the sea, Jesus delivers a tor-
mented man, the Gerasene demoniac (5:1–20). With a response
similar to that of the disciples in the preceding episode, the people
of the region become frightened after they learn of the miracle,
and, like the disciples, their fear is directed at Jesus. They ex-
13 For a description of the disciples' story in Mark's Gospel, see Robert C. Tan-
nehill, "The Disciples in Mark: The Function of a Narrative Role," Journal of Reli.
gion 57 (1977): 386-405. For the idea that minor characters serve as foils for the dis-
ciples, see Kingsbury, Conflict in Mark, 25-27; Rhoads and Michie, Mark as Story,
132-34; and Tannehill, "The Disciples in Mark," 391, 404-5.
14 Norman R. Petersen, "The Composition of Mark 4:1-8:26," Harvard Theologi-
cal Review 73 (1980): 195-96.
338 BIBLIOTHECA SACRA / July—September 1996
press their fear by asking Jesus to leave. In contrast to the onlook-
ers and thus in contrast to the disciples, the Gerasene demoniac is
not afraid of Jesus, and instead of wanting to be rid of Jesus, he
begs for permission to be with Him. Faith and fear continue to be
prominent themes in the following scene, which includes the
healing of Jairus' daughter and the healing of the hemorrhaging
woman (5:21-43). According to Jesus, the woman is healed of her
affliction because of her faith. She also overcomes her fear and
comes to Jesus when He insists on making this private miracle a